Today we've had some updates on the recent MMR issues, as well as some tweets from Blizzard on gearing.

Wowhead launches Class Guides!

On Friday Wowhead launched guides for every class and spec. Aimed at new level 90s, or players new to a given spec, these are all written by experts in each class. You can check them out at our Class Guides page.

MMR issues hotfix incoming

Blizzard Community Representative Daxxarri responded to player concerns about gaining 0 points of Current Rating following wins in arena:

Daxxarri

We recently implemented a hotfix to address a bug that allowed Personal Ratings to exceed Matchmaking Rating. As a result, some players may notice that they do not gain or lose Personal Rating in the wake of a match. As more matches are played, these ratings will normalize and converge to the correct rating, and Personal Rating will then rise or drop accordingly.

In the meantime, we will continue to monitor the situation and make further adjustments if necessary.

Following several responses expressing dissatisfaction, Senior Community Representative Lore posted in the thread to alert the community of a subsequent hotfix:

Lore

The intent of this change was to fix a bug that was allowing some players to boost their personal rating far above their matchmaking rating. Unfortunately, the change we made inadvertently affected many legitimate players as well, causing them to see a personal rating gain of 0 in some cases.

To correct this, we’ll be relaxing the boundaries at which the system will attempt to limit personal rating gains (or losses) in relation to a player’s individual MMR. Once this hotfix is live, you should once again see ratings gains or losses as normal as long as your personal rating is within 100 points of your individual MMR rating. Note that your own MMR is what matters here, not the average for your team (which is the number displayed at the end of a match).

So I'm assuming after a few games (1-5) this should balance out your MMR with your CR, since it's your personal, not team. And you should be gaining points per game? I haven't played 3's in a few days and I'm itching :D

Once the 100-point buffer is in place, most players should not notice much of a difference (if any) in point gains between how things work now and how they worked a few days ago. For the handful of players that are outside the 100-point boundary, it will take a few games for their ratings to correct themselves, but as long as they weren't doing anything shady it shouldn't take long even in those cases.

We're currently not planning a rating reset, although we are continuing to monitor the situation and will make further adjustments if they prove to be necessary.

We also currently don't have any plans to display personal MMR, but we definitely understand why that can be frustrating and are discussing it.

PvP is getting some radical changes and welcome additions in Patch 5.3! Most importantly, resilience is gone from gear, Season 13 gear won't be eligible for item upgrades, and all gear is being scaled down to ilvl 496 in arenas and battlegrounds. These changes are designed to make PvP a more welcoming experience for new players, instead of being something dreaded for School of Hard Knocks or Chapter II: Wrathion's War where undergeared players repeatedly meet a quick death.

There's also a greater emphasis on cosmetic PvP rewards in 5.3--enchants and special gear for high-ranked players. And since high-level Elite gear is getting a nerf, Elite gear now fills a transmog niche instead of serving as overpowered PvP gear.

Finally, there's a new arena and battleground, for which you'll get the fabulous Gorgeous title if you complete the meta.

The Tiger's Peak is a new arena set in the Shado-Pan training grounds. Environmental obstacles players will encounter include fenced platforms and large statues.

There was also a recent hotfix in which Glorious Conquest quartermasters have been temporarily removed until 5.3. The gear they sell is currently ilvl 512, but will be ilvl 496 in Patch 5.3--primarily cosmetic rewards. To fix the item levels for this gear, as well as avoid confusion among players who didn't realize the ilvls were changing, they've been taken out until the patch.

Blizzard just released a blog about PvP gear moving forward in Mists of Pandaria. They acknowledge that players who start early have an advantage, that there's a big gap between the power of Honor and Conquest Point gear, and that the 2200 rating requirement on gear creates a sharp gearing divide.

Players in low level battlegrounds will have their effective level raised to the maximum level allowed in that battleground bracket. Players' base stats and spells are scaled accordingly and are treated as the same level when determining hits, misses, and critical effect chance.

Losing teams in RBGs will get Conquest Points based on their score--up to 200 for a very close game.

Hybrid specs will get 25% of the bonus provided by PvP Power, instead of 0%. Dedicated healers still get 50%.

Season 13 weapons for casters will cost slightly less than before, while off-hands will cost slightly more.

PvP Power on weapons for casters and healers is split more evenly in 5.2 between main-hand and off-hand slots, similar to a dual-wielding melee. This will retroactively apply to Season 12 weapons.

Malevolent PvP gear in 5.2 will be ilvl 476 instead and will cost Honor Points. Players that have already purchased gear will keep the ilvl 483 version.

With the new PvP season underway this week, we thought it would be a good time to highlight the two new battlegrounds: Temple of Kotmogu and Silvershard Mines. They're both level 90 battlegrounds for 10 players, with interesting twists on familiar battlegrounds like Arathi Basin and Warsong Gulch.

During the lost days of ancient Pandaria, the ruling mogu built temples not unlike themselves – immense in size, vast in scope, and steeped in forces as old as the ground beneath their feet. Stony statues of the mogu still glare down from their long-vacant temples, and echoes of their supremacy persist to the present day. Inside the autumnal Temple of Kotmogu, a vicious melee has erupted over artifacts the mogu left behind: treasures older than the bloodlines of human kings and the clans of orcs, orbs of power that have bathed in the energies of Pandaria for ages. Will they bring the might of the mogu to the Horde or Alliance?Overview:

A team wins when 1600 points are reached. Points are gained when players control orbs. Teams are also awarded points when enemy players are killed.

There are four orbs, located in corners of the battleground. They are very visible by their neon auras. We modified the Wowhead map (to the right) to show where each color spawns.

Teams are awarded more points when their players with orbs stand closer to the center--where they're out in the open and it's hard to defend. Standing in the central courtyard will award the most points.

Players holding onto orbs get the stacking debuff Orb of Power. After a certain point, it's wise to let the orb-holder die and have someone on your team ready to pick up the orb again.

Frost

First up, we have the Temple of Kotmogu, where the Alliance and the Horde clash over ancient artifacts that date back to the dawn of recorded history… and it’s up to you to secure the secret power of the mogu for your faction.When you’re done bashing orc or human heads in Pandaria, head on down to the newly opened Silvershard Mines in Stranglethorn Vale and retrieve a resource that is much more mundane (but not one bit less important) than the enigmatic energies of the mogu: diamonds! Claim the mine for your side, and you’ll seize its glittering prizes.

Next, we’ve just updated the Mists of Pandaria bestiary page with new info on the denizens of the time-lost continent. There, you’ll learn more about the fiendish sha, the insectoid mantid, the reptilian saurok, the humble grummles, and the proud yaungol.

As always, stay tuned; there’s still more to come as we inch closer to the release of Mists of Pandaria.

Blizzard

At the completion of scheduled server maintenance during the week of June 5, the “Power of the Aspects” spell will grow more powerful, reducing the health and damage dealt of all enemies in the Dragon Soul raid by 25%. This spell has grown progressively stronger over time to reduce difficulty and make the encounters more accessible. The spell will affect both normal and Heroic difficulties, but it will not affect the Raid Finder difficulty.

If you don’t need the help of the Dragon Aspects, the spell can be disabled by talking to Lord Afrasastrasz at the beginning of Dragon Soul.

We hope you continue to enjoy Dragon Soul, and that these changes encourage you to attempt a higher difficulty, or just keep pushing to take down that next boss.

Nethaera

With the Mists of Pandaria beta in full swing we thought we’d take this opportunity to shed some light on what lays ahead for PvP. To that end, we sat down with World of Warcraft Game Director Tom Chilton to discuss the future of PvP in Mists of Pandaria.

What is the overarching design philosophy for PvP in Mists of Pandaria?

Tom Chilton - We want to have more new PvP content than we’ve ever had before. With this expansion we’re adding two completely new Battlegrounds with new gameplay types. We’ve never done that before at the start of an expansion. We also have a new Arena to add to the current pool of options. That will bring our count of Battlegrounds up to ten and our Arena count to six.

Temple of Kot'mogu - Who's got the relic now?

How is the war being brought back to World of Warcraft in relation to PvP?

Tom Chilton - Well, the best answer to that is that we’re very deliberately trying to get people back out into the world, and so that means on a PvP realm, you’ll have more people to kill that are out in the world. Generally speaking, the most fun outdoor PvP is just the spontaneous conflict that happens as a natural result of people being out in the world. It’s not the stuff the designers create for you.

Many players on PvE realms are concerned about being forced to PvP or take part in World PvP when they don’t want to, what can you say to them about the plans for this?

Tom Chilton - There are no plans to force PvP on players who are on PvE realms. Their experience shouldn’t change and they’ll have the same opportunities for PvP (if they wish to take part) as they do now. It’s also worth noting that the Black Market Auction House has the potential to become a world PvP location for those on PvP realms. Just like the name implies, these are goods being sold out in shady locations away from the prying eyes of guards in the cities. They are not in neutral or safe zones. For PvE realms, it’s not going to have that same risk for placing a bid as on a PvP realm (aside from being outbid).

Temple of Kotmogu - Plenty of room to run and run and run.

On the other hand, PvPers are afraid that things won’t be taken far enough and they won’t get the world PvP they want; they often mention the issue of guards in major cities hampering their ability to do these raids. What could you say about that?

Tom Chilton - We know that for many PvPers, the idea of getting a large raid (or two) together to invade a city is something that can make for great world PvP. We also know that there has been an issue with guards causing this to be a less appealing undertaking for them as the guards have gotten stronger. We obviously want those guards there doing their jobs, but we don’t want them to be the wall that you just can’t get over. So, we are planning to adjust the guards only on PvP realms to where they aren’t quite as strong as you’d find them on a PvE realm, and they won’t respawn quite as quickly either. We’re still working on this, but we hope to get this adjustment in before the release of Mists of Pandaria. It’s worth noting that the guards on PvE realms will remain the same as they are now.

Temple of Kotmogu -One of four artifacts in Temple of Kotmogu

How is it possible to make it different between the realm types when it wasn’t in the past?

Tom Chilton - The difference is in the available technology that we have now that we didn’t have in the past. As the game has evolved over the years, so has technology and our capability to find ways to implement that new technology that makes our ideas of “what if” or “wouldn’t it be cool” become reality. With the change to the guards, we think that could be a real game changer for those that really like the idea of raiding cities or areas and holding them against the “enemy”. Beyond that though, there isn’t really a difference, but with the new daily quest hubs, it should prove to be a real hotspot for PvP on a regular basis.

Silvershard Mine - Which switch is which?

Will there be bigger changes between PvP and PvE realms in the future?

Tom Chilton - It’s always a possibility. We want to see how things go with these changes first. We don’t want to promise any big plans at this point in time, but we are always thinking of ways we can add to the experience where we can.

Silvershard Mine - Up or down?

What about the general idea that there aren’t enough people out in the world to even engage in PvP?

Tom Chilton - The new Cross-Realm Zones technology that we introduced recently in the beta should also help make sure more world PvP happens.

Silvershard Mine - Almost there...

What about the use of flying mounts? Many players are concerned about the use of flying mounts to avoid having to ever engage in PvP on PvP realms.
Tom Chilton - We know this is a concern and we have some things in mind for helping in this regard. First, we’re limiting the use of flying mounts within Mists of Pandaria to level 90. Second, with so many players taking part in the quest hubs, we think we’ll see a lot more PvP happening out in the world. After all, you have to land sometime. If that’s not enough though, we have an item that we’re adding to the game that players will be able to use from the ground that makes it possible to dismount a flying enemy player (within a reasonable range and PvP flagged). We’re still discussing the particulars of how this item will be available.

Will there be a Wintergrasp or Tol Barad for Mists of Pandaria?

Tom Chilton - No. We’re deliberately trying to get people out into the world and these areas ended up being more like instanced areas than World PvP. We don’t want to create another one and have it result in the same sort of gameplay. With that being said though, we’ve instead moved the bosses you would have found within an instance like Baradin Hold out into the world. We think the allure of a boss kill is a great impetus to go out into the world and engage in PvP.

Could you recap the new battlegrounds that are being added? What new gameplay styles do the two new Battlegrounds have to offer players?

Tom Chilton - We have two new Battlegrounds that we’ve talked about before, each featuring a completely new type of gameplay that we haven’t had available before.

The design of the Silvershard Mine hasn’t really changed since we last discussed it at our Mists of Pandaria media event. Players essentially escort one of several mining carts to a depot to score points. Strategic locations will feature switches that allow you to change tracks. The more people you have helping out, the better, though you’re going to want to stop or at least stall the other team from getting their carts into a depot as well.

For our other Battleground, Temple of Kotmogu, we’ve made some slight changes since we last talked about it at the event. We did some internal testing with just one artifact and discovered that the gameplay devolved into a sort of deathmatch in the center of the map. So we didn’t just double the amount of artifacts that were in play, we quadrupled it and ended up with four artifacts at different spots that could be used to score points. You’ll still score the most points for staying in the center area of the of the field of battle, but there’s a lot more going on with four artifacts to keep track of and hand off to your team.

.Tol'vir Proving Grounds- Three is the number

Is the way we queue for Battlegrounds changing at all?

Tom Chilton - Yes, we’re adding a way for players to down-vote two Battlegrounds that they don’t want to see show up when queuing for random Battlegrounds. The exception to this is if it’s the Battleground featured with Call to Arms. You won’t be able to down-vote those when they happen, but this should make it so that it’s less likely you’ll be taking part in a Battleground that you don’t particularly enjoy. It should also help make it more likely that when a particular Battleground comes up on the Call to Arms, you may be able to enjoy it more. We’re also changing the way Call to Arms works so that there will always be a Call to Arms Battleground available. This will allow us to cycle through a larger amount of Battlegrounds on a regular basis.

When will players get to try out the new Battlegrounds for themselves?

Tom Chilton - We’re hoping to have these new battlegrounds in the beta for everyone to play within the next couple of weeks or so. We’re looking forward to getting everyone’s feedback and seeing how they play out with a larger test audience.

Tom Chilton - Yes, actually. Players will be able to see their opponent’s class and specialization before the match begins. They won’t be able to see the specific talent choices or glyphs being used, however. From there, it’s a bit like playing poker. You won’t know what exact abilities your opponent is using, but you’ll be able to modify your own talents in the staging area before the match starts to try to anticipate what they could be using.

Tol'vir Proving Grounds Are you worthy?

Is anything changing with Rated Battlegrounds?

Tom Chilton - We don’t have any changes planned for Rated Battlegrounds at this time, though we may at some point in the future decide to add in the newest Battlegrounds, Silvershard Mine and Temple of Kotmogu.

Very interesting news: non-rated battlegrounds will now give you 50 conquest points per win. You will be able to reach the weekly conquest cap without having to ever step foot in a ranked game.

You have to wonder if part of the reason isn't because season 11 gear looks amazing for transmogrification purposes! (Kidding--mostly.)

4.3 Conquest Point Changes

In patch 4.3 we’re changing the daily battleground (BG) to reward 100 conquest for a win (up from 25). In addition, every non-rated BG that you win will also give you 50 conquest. There is no limit to how many BGs you can run this way, up to the normal conquest cap.

Our intent is to start acting even more on our Mists of Pandaria philosophies of encouraging players to approach the content they want to, how they want to, and be able to work toward meaningful player progression. Arenas and rated battlegrounds will still earn Conquest faster, but with this change you can now work your way up by running normal BGs, if you so choose.

4.3 Valor Point Changes

We’re in the process of making slight adjustments to the Valor Point (VP) drops on the 4.3 PTR which testers will soon see. In both 10- and 25-player raids, bosses will now drop 100 VP each (down from 115 and 135 respectively). We’ll also be changing Firelands raid bosses to drop 50 VP per kill upon release of the patch.

This change is being made to further emphasize the desire to kill bosses for the items they drop. In the 4.3 raid, tier sets can only be earned from boss drops, and as Raid Finder will allow for just about anyone to get a chance to kill bosses, we think there will be less need for Valor overall. We want to try to match the lower desire for VP with a slightly slower acquisition rate.

We appreciate your thoughts and constructive discussion on how these changes may affect you and your guild once 4.3 is released.

World of Warcraft is coming to Brazil and Blizzard posted an excerpt of their newest novel, Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects! Big news, eh? We also have the latest blue posts from the past few days rounded up, including rumors of adding more battlegrounds and a breakdown of need vs. greed in World of Warcraft 5-mans.

SAO PAULO, Brazil. -- July 21, 2011 -- At an exclusive press event at the Museu da Casa Brasileira in São Paulotoday, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced that a fully localized Brazilian Portuguese version of its critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft®, will be released in Brazil later this year. Brazilian Portuguese will be the ninth officially supported language for World of Warcraft worldwide, and the third supported language in Latin America, complementing the existing English and Spanish versions.

An official Brazilian Portuguese World of Warcraft community website will also be available at launch.

In addition, players in Brazil will have access to customer service for the game in Brazilian Portuguese.

"One of our top priorities is ensuring that our games are easily accessible to players all around the world. By offering a fully localized version of World of Warcraft along with customer service in Brazilian Portuguese, we’re able to deliver an experience that meets our standards and the expectations of our players in Brazil," said Mike Morhaime, CEO of Blizzard Entertainment. "We look forward to welcoming Brazilian gamers to the global World of Warcraft community, and we hope they have a great time in Azeroth."

World of Warcraft, which now includes the content of thefirst expansion, The Burning Crusade®, as part of the base game, will be available in stores throughout Brazil at a suggested retail price of BRL 29.90. Fully localized versions of the second and third expansions, Wrath of the Lich King™ and Cataclysm™, will also be available at a suggested retail price of BRL 99.90 each. World of Warcraft, Wrath of the Lich King, and Cataclysm will come packaged in a DVD case and will include the game media and documentation in Brazilian Portuguese.

Existing players on the North American realms will be able to download and install a free language pack to play World of Warcraft in Brazilian Portuguese. In addition, Blizzard will be creating designated Brazilian Portuguese realms as an option for players who have installed the language pack or purchased the Brazilian Portuguese game client.

Subscription plans will be available at launch at an expected price of BRL 15 (30 days), BRL 42 (90 days), and BRL 78 (180 day). Sixty-day time cards will also be available in retail stores at launch.

Players will also have the option to purchase and download full Brazilian Portuguese versions of World of Warcraft and its expansions through Blizzard’s Battle.net website (http://us.battle.net/pt/), using international Visa or MasterCard, or by using various local debit cards, credit cards, cash payments, bank transfers, or eWallet options through Blizzard Entertainment’s payment-gateway partner, DineroMail, for no additional fee. These payment method options include Boleto Bancario in Brazil.

Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects

Blizzard's posted an excerpt of their newest novel today.

Written by New York Times bestselling author Christie Golden, the new novel Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects is now on store shelves. We’re pleased to present a series of three excerpts from the novel for your reading enjoyment.

Read the first excerpt below.

--

Nobundo turned to Thrall and Aggra as they approached. He was a former draenei. His form was not proud and strong and tall, but bent, almost deformed, caused by exposure to fel energies. Many Broken were dark and corrupted, but Nobundo was not. Indeed, he had been blessed, his great heart opening to the shamanic powers, and it was he who had brought these powers to his people. Beside him were several draenei, their blue forms undamaged, sleek, clean. Yet, to Thrall and many others, Nobundo outshone them all because of who he was.

When the high shaman's gaze fell upon Thrall, the orc wanted to look away. This being—indeed, all the other shaman gathered here—was someone Thrall respected deeply, and had never wished to disappoint. And yet, he had.

Nobundo beckoned Thrall to him with an oversized hand. "Come, my friend," he said quietly, regarding the orc kindly.

Many were not so charitably minded, and Thrall felt angry gazes being cast his way as he approached Nobundo. Others came silently to join in this informal gathering.

"You know the spell we were attempting to work," Nobundo said, his voice still calm. "It was to soothe and comfort the earth. It is admittedly a difficult working, but one that all of us here know how to do. Can you tell us why you—?"

"Stop dancing around the subject," growled Rehgar. He was a massive orc, battle-scarred and hulking. One would not look at him and think "spiritual," but whoever made that assumption

would be very wrong. Rehgar's life journey had thus far taken him from gladiator to slave owner to loyal friend and advisor to Thrall, and that journey was far from over. Now, though, a lesser orc than the former warchief of the Horde might have quailed before his anger. "Thrall... what the fel was going on with you? We could all feel it! You weren't focusing!"

Thrall felt his hands curl into fists and forced them to relax. "Only because you are my friend will I permit you to speak so to me, Rehgar," Thrall said quietly, but with an edge to his voice.

"Rehgar is right, Thrall," Muln Earthfury said in his deep, rumbling voice. "The working is hard, but not impossible—not even unfamiliar. You are a shaman, one who has been through all his

people's true rites. Drek'Thar hailed you as the savior of his people because the elements spoke to you when they had been silent for many years. You are no inexperienced child, to be coddled and sympathized with. You are a member of this Ring—an honored and strong one, or else you would not be here. And yet you crumbled at a crucial moment. We could have silenced the quakes, but you shattered the working. You need to tell us what is distracting you so that we may aid you."

"Muln—" Aggra began, but Thrall lifted a hand.

"It is nothing," he said to Muln. "The work is demanding and wearying, and I have a great deal on my mind. Nothing more than that."

Rehgar uttered an oath. "You have a great deal on your mind," he spat. "Well, the rest of us do as well. Trivial things like saving our world from ripping itself apart!"

For a second, everything went red in Thrall's vision. Muln spoke before Thrall could. "Thrall was leader of the Horde, Rehgar, not you. You cannot know what burdens he bore and perhaps still does bear. And as one who until recently owned slaves, you cannot sit in moral judgment upon him!"

He turned to Thrall. "I am not attacking you, Thrall. I am merely seeking to see how we can aid you, that you can better aid us."

"I know what you are doing," Thrall said, his voice close to a snarl. "And I do not like it."

"Perhaps," Muln said, striving for diplomacy, "you are in need of some rest for a while. Our work is very demanding, and even the strongest must tire."

Thrall did not even grace the other shaman with a verbal reply; he merely nodded curtly and stalked off to his shelter.

He was angrier than he had been in some time. And the person he was most angry with was himself.He knew he had been the weak link in the chain, had failed to put forth the ultimate concentration at the moment when it was most desperately needed. He could not yet drop deep into himself, touch the Spirit of Life within, which was what had been required of him. He didn't know if he would ever be capable of doing so. And because he could not do this thing, the effort had failed.

Paragon got world first heroic Ragnaros which is by no means a small feat! Over 500 tries later, the Firelord was downed. Other than that, we have a huge news round up and some hotfixes which were just posted.

July 19

General

The frequency at which players can use /yell, /say, and any emotes is now throttled to prevent excessive spamming of chat logs from occurring.

Classes

Death Knights

Improved Death Strike now provides 40/80/120% bonus damage, up from 30/60/90%, and a 10/20/30% critical strike bonus, up from 3/6/9%.

Druids

Flight Form now cancels the Leyara’s Locket buff.

Moonfire will now generate Lunar Energy when crossing from Solar to Lunar on the Eclipse bar.

Dungeons & Raids

All bosses in The Bastion of Twilight, Blackwing Descent, and Throne of the Four Winds once again award Valor Points in all raid sizes and difficulties. 10-player bosses award 35 Valor Points, while 25-player bosses award 45 Valor Points. This change does not apply to Argaloth in Baradin Hold. More information can be found here.

Firelands

Superheated cannot be cast on players, even if they attack the Flamewaker Animators as they are channeling energy towards the Unstable Magma.

Alysrazor

Collecting Blazing Power now refreshes Wings of Flame to its full duration each time.

Alysrazor will now always face the correct direction during Firestorm.

Imprinted should now be cleared from characters under all conditions when the encounter resets.

Interacting with a Molten Feather will now dismount characters, preventing the feather from being wasted.

Beth’tilac

Beth'tilac will now only eat spiderlings that move very close to her (the range on her ability to consume them has been reduced). In addition, eaten spiderlings will no longer sometimes remain on the ground or on players once she consumes them.

It should always be possible to interact with Cloudbursts, even if several players click on one at the same time.

Items

Heroic bind-on-equip items now sell to vendors for gold.

PvP

Arenas

A resolution has been put into place which should help alleviate Rated Battleground matchmaking delays. This fix corrects an issue that could occur if a team at the front of the queue was particularly difficult to match, resulting in a bottleneck which slowed matchmaking for all players in queue. More information can be found here.

Quests & Creatures

The melee evasion angle of several creatures has been adjusted. Most notably, melee classes should no longer be seeing abilities, such as Backstab or Shred, getting parried when standing well enough out of Ragnaros’s melee evasion angle, or other bosses/creatures with similar evasion angles.

Honor Compensation Issue

Some players did not properly receive the Honor they were promised in compensation for spending Honor on any item level 365 items following the release of 4.2 (see our previous blog detailing their plan), between the June 28 and July 5 maintenances. Don't worry, Blizzard has planned a short maintenance tomorrow morning to correct this.

Around 50% of the intended recipients did not receive the 4000 honor that they should have with today’s maintenance. We’re in the process of scheduling an off-peak maintenance early tomorrow morning to correct that and deliver the remaining compensation packages.

Sorry for the hiccup, we’ll get them to you soon.

Purchasing Lvl 85 PVP Gear Pre-85 (and why you can't)

Players are arguing that they should be able to purchase level 85 PVP gear with Honor earned prior to reaching level 85. They bring up some good points (such as that you can earn Justice Points prior to 85) - what do you guys think?

Seriously, why am I unable to buy honor gear prior to hitting 85 with my alts. They earned that honor just like everyone else and it was much harder earned since low level honor rewards are so much lower. Its unreasonable for me to be unable to spend it on end game honor rewards that I can then equip when I hit 85.

I would love one solid reason for why I'm not allowed to do this other than "but then what would you do when you hit 85?"

My definition of a solid reason is one that makes sense. Is there any player that considers this to be a valid idea?

What Aarschott explained to you does make sense. Level-85 PvP gear is intended to be earned and awarded to level-85 players. There is too much potential to "game" the system and stockpile really powerful gear so that you're fully equipped when you hit 85, if we were to allow you to buy level-85 gear with Honor you earned below the level cap.

The same applies for PvE gear. If you want powerful endgame items, you need to earn them via playing through endgame content.

What Aarschott explained to you does make sense. Level-85 PvP gear is intended to be earned and awarded to level-85 players. There is too much potential to "game" the system and stockpile really powerful gear so that you're fully equipped when you hit 85, if we were to allow you to buy level-85 gear with Honor you earned below the level cap.

That sounds suspiciously like "Working as intended." I think what he's asking is why it's intended to work that way?

Why don't you want a player having honor gear the second he/she hits 85?

It's not necessarily good entertainment to go and get your butt kicked repeatedly in BGs for 150 sessions before you can begin to compete.There are crafted items available to level-85 players which will help them substantially when first setting foot into Battlegrounds or Tol Barad. Getting a hold of this gear isn't too difficult.

The fact is that endgame progression is its own experience. Leveling is a very direct and obvious act of progression, but that changes when players hit the cap. Progression then trends much more toward itemization -- you have to participate in the endgame experience to get more powerful gear. But as I said, there is underrated entry-level crafting gear which can be very useful for helping to ease PvP-oriented players into level-85 Battlegrounds.

OK, then why do we start earning Justice Points at 70? We can stockpile them till we have 4K; so if this really is your reasoning, why don't we get our JP/Honor wiped when we ding 85? I mean we didn't earn them doing endgame content, why should we be able to buy a few pieces of gear with them?

Just like removing VP from T11, this is another example of the complete lack of thought put into these details...

No, that's exactly the point of the design. If you enjoy doing some leveling via Battlegrounds, you're afforded the opportunity to buy up to two pieces of epic item level 371 PvP gear when you hit 85. You can then use gold and/or crafting materials to fill out just about every other slot, plus use enchantments, gems, and reforging to get your character into a competitive state for collecting additional epic Honor gear.

Heroic Ragnaros Rage

Just because your spec wasn't there, doesn't mean it couldn't be.

And not a single ele in top guild 1st kill....

working as intended blizzard?

It's so incredibly anecdotal there isn't even a proper frame of reference for having this debate.

Yes, it's working as intended that the first guild in the world to kill Heroic Ragnaros was allowed to bring whatever players/classes they were confident would help get the job done.

There's 25 slots in a raid.

There's 30 specs in the game.

Do the math, there's always going to be someone left out.

What are the odds that all 3 Shaman specs would be part of the 5 that didn't make it?

It doesn't matter at all unless you can verify and prove that Heroic Ragnaros is impossible, or way more difficult to kill, when a specific class or specialization is represented in the raid.

You're forcing together a couple of incredibly fragmented pieces of data -- and the sample size of that tested data is 25 players in the whole world fighting one boss in the entire game -- to extrapolate an entire thesis on class balance.

No one is going to benefit from trying to make an argument out of this.